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Cuyabeno National Park, located deep withing the Amazon jungle of NE Ecuador, is unique in that it is an inundated jungle. Huge trees with giant winged trunks protrude from the black waters of the Laguna Grande (Grand Lagoon), home to steely-jawed piranhas. Hundreds of species of exotic birds like the Hoatzin and Russet-backed Oropendola wing overhead, while an incredible variety of primates fly through the trees or scramble across branches. Even the ground teems with activity as leaf-cutter ants tote loads ten times their size. I stayed at Cuyabeno Lodge on the Grand Lagoon, an incredible lodge that is also eco-friendly.

Lawyers have quarrelled for several years in several countries over who’s responsible for pollution in the rain forest.

The villagers’ lawyers are arguing that the case should be heard in Canadian courts because Chevron has a Canadian subsidiary.

In February 2011, an Ecuadorian judge issued an £11.5bn judgement against Chevron in a lawsuit brought on behalf of 30,000 villagers.

It was for environmental damage caused by Texaco during its operation of an oil consortium from 1972 to 1990.

Ecuador’s highest court last year upheld the verdict but reduced the amount to about £6bn.

Chevron, which now has no assets in Ecuador, has simply shrugged off the case.

The company is being sued because it bought Texaco.

But it insists that a 1998 agreement Texaco signed with Ecuador absolves it of liability.

Chevron … argued procedurally that allowing the action to proceed would violate a principle known as the “corporate veil,” which says that subsidiaries are separate entities from their corporate parents and are not liable for actions of the parents — a convenient legal fiction which allows widespread impunity.

Lee Fangon November 29, 2012 – 5:10 PM ETThe “American” in American Petroleum Institute, the country’s largest oil lobby group, is a misnomer. As I reported for The Nation in August, the group has changed over the years, and is now led by men like Tofiq Al-Gabsani, a Saudi Arabian national who heads a Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco) subsidiary, the state-run oil company that also helps finance the American Petroleum Institute. Al-Gabsani is also a registered foreign agent for the Saudi government.

New disclosures retrieved today, showing some of API’s spending over the course of last year, reveal that API used its membership dues (from the world’s largest oil companies like Chevron and Aramco) to finance several dark money groups airing attack ads in the most recent election cycle.

Last year, API gave nearly half a million to the following dark money groups running political ads against Democrats and in support of Republicans:

• $50,000 to Americans for Prosperity’s 501(c)(4) group, which ran ads against President Obama and congressional Democrats.

• $412,969 to Coalition for American Jobs’ 501(c)(6) group, a front set up by API lobbyists to air ads for industry-friendly politicians, including former Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA).

Jack Gerard, the president of API, was a close ally to the Mitt Romney campaign. Like the US Chamber of Commerce, API is one of several large trade associations that has spent heavily in support of Republican candidates.

The disclosures also show that in 2011, API spent over $68 million for public relations/advertising with the firm Edelman, $5.4 million on “coalition building” with the firm Advocates Inc, and $4 million with DDC Advocacy for “advocacy.” DDC is the firm led by Sara Fagen, the former Bush White House aide ensnared in the DOJ purges scandal. DDC now works with corporations to help them communicate with workers on how to vote.

API’s Saudi leadership is perhaps one of the most salient examples of how the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision has opened the door to foreign influence.

For many years, trade associations like API courted foreign businesses to forge industry-wide lobbying coalitions. But because of a court decision in 1990 (Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce), trade associations could participate in elections only by spinning off regulated political action committees, subject to strict disclosure and contribution limits. The foreign leadership of trade associations had a clear firewall against interfering in American elections.

Justice John Roberts and the conservative court changed that. The court’s decisions in 2007 (in a case called Wisconsin Right to Life v. FEC) and 2010 (Citizens United v. FEC) to deregulate soft money allowed trade associations to behave akin to campaign committees, funneling corporate cash to attack ad and electioneering efforts—except without the disclosure requirements. That cleared the way for a substantial loophole. A foreign national cannot administer a Super PAC or candidate committee, but they can run a trade association like API that can now run candidate ads or finance third party campaign efforts. The foreign corporate money given to a trade association, from a Saudi oil firm or a French chemical company, for example, can now find its way into an attack ad. The lobbyists and companies, and perhaps many of the politicians, know where the money for the ads is coming from—but the American people have no clue.

Editorial intern Nicholas Myers assisted with the research for this post.

Shell and Chevron have funded armed militant groups in the volatile Niger Delta region of Nigeria since at least 2003, according to oil-industry sources and US embassy cables. Both oil companies have also paid ‘protection’ money to other hostile groups for decades.

A Shell manager admits giving ‘special surveillance’ contracts to militant groups in 2011, in an attempt to incorporate them into the company security arrangements. These contracts have effectively rewarded violence.

Chevron developed a close working relationship with Government Tompolo, commander of MEND, one of the main militant groups in the Delta. Chevron rented houseboats from Tompolo’s company, and routinely made calls and sent text messages to Tompolo’s army of MEND militants.

Shell and Chevron have provided funding for militant groups in the Delta. Both companies reportedly paid $300 per month to individual armed militants in Warri in 2003, enough to provide weapons and supplies for several weeks. An estimated 500 people were subsequently killed in the Warri conflict.

UK government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act suggest that despite repeated promises, Shell continued making harmful payments to pacify armed groups. In 2004, Shell inadvertently informed the Foreign Office that it had made very little progress in implementing its policies on “no cash payments” and “no ghost workers”.

These corporate practices have fuelled conflict and had a devastating impact on human rights. Leaked Shell data suggests that in 2009 alone, the company spent $75 million on ‘Other’ unexplained security expenditures – a vast infusion of cash into the Delta conflict. According to independent analysts, the distribution of cash and contracts by oil companies has contributed to “the killing and displacement of thousands of local people” in communal and ethnic conflicts.

Washington, DC – Yesterday at 6:15 PT explosions and a massive fire at Chevron’s Richmond, CA, oil refinery released a plume of black smoke over the region.

Sierra Club Director, Environmental Justice and Community Partnerships Director Leslie Fields Released the Following Statement in Response:

“Yesterday residents of four California cities—Richmond, North Richmond, San Pablo and El Cerrito—were told by emergency officials to shelter-in-place, close doors and seal windows to avoid toxic smoke from the massive Chevron refinery fire. Fortunately, there were only minor injuries at the site. However, area hospitals reported at least 350 visits for respiratory problems and vomiting.

“No one should have to live downwind of a dangerous oil refinery. Our thoughts are with the families living near the Chevron facility who must now contend with the aftermath and long-term health consequences of breathing in smoke filled with dangerous particulate matter, soot and cancer-causing toxins like sulfur compounds. These explosions and the massive toxic cloud hanging over their community and homes are only a part of the pattern of operation at Chevron’s Richmond facility, and Chevron should be held to account.”

For the fourth time in the past 18 years, Chevron’s Richmond, California refinery has caught on fire, blanketing thousands of homes in toxic smoke: here.

Chevron, the second largest oil and energy company in the United States, was fined $963,200 by Cal/OSHA (the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health) for state safety standard violations related to the August 6, 2012, fire at its Richmond, California, refinery: here.

This talk was filmed at an event on March 27th, 2011 at Bluestockings, called “Independent Media, Technology, and Self-Determination Struggles in Nigeria.” Emem Okon (bio follows) of Kebetkache, a women’s organization in the Niger Delta, speaks to the role of communications technology in struggles against political corruption and oil exploitation in Nigeria. She also discusses the participation of Niger Delta women in the Indymedia Convergence in Dakar, February 2011. Introduction by Nicole Hummel from Deep Dish TV.

Ms Emem J. Okon is the founder and Executive Director of Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre. She is a women’s rights activist and advocate from the oil impacted Niger Delta region of Nigeria. She is a trainer, researcher and campaigner against all forms of violence directed at women and the environment. She is currently undertaking a research into impact of militarism on women in the Niger Delta, a component of the Strengthening Women’s Activism against Conflict and Militarism in the West African sub-region. She has coordinated many networks and coalitions including Gender and Constitution Reform Network (GECORN) south-south zone; National Coalition on Affirmative Action (NCAA) Rivers (2004-2010) among others.

One of the most prominent voices was Emem Okon, founder and executive director of Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre of Nigeria. A community organizer and women’s rights activist from the Niger Delta, Okon is leading a thriving Nigerian ecofeminist movement. She has coordinated several local women’s networks and coalitions, including Women Against Climate Change (WACC), International Network on Women and Environment, Niger Delta Women for Justice and Niger Delta Women’s Movement. I interviewed Okon shortly after the protests to learn how the women of the U.S. can emulate the women of Nigeria in standing up to one of the world’s most powerful–and dangerous–corporations.

Antonia Juhasz: Why did you travel from Nigeria to California to join the protests at Chevron’s annual shareholder meeting on May 30?

Emem Okon: For well over 50 years, Chevron has been a dominant oil producer in Nigeria, both on land and offshore, generating riches that have flowed to Chevron. Chevron’s operations in the Niger Delta have economically marginalized local villagers while giving them virtually no control over their own livelihood, land or resources. The people and communities living nearest to the oil have become poorer and more dispirited, and are living shorter lives. I came to California to tell Chevron that it must listen to the women of the Niger Delta and change its operations.

How are women’s lives in the Delta impacted by Chevron and the oil industry?

Abusing the Niger Delta environment translates to abusing the women of the Delta. These women are predominantly farmers and fisher-folks. Their lives are built around the environment. Their farming includes planting and processing cassava, yam, plantain, banana, vegetables and other related produce, as well as processing palm fruits into palm oil and palm kernel. Women also get resources from the forest. Their lives and income are also intimately linked to the water, including the Atlantic ocean, the rivers, streams and creeks.

In the Niger Delta, the greatest damage to this environment is caused by the oil and gas industry. Through oil spills and gas flaring, exploration and exploitation activities have resulted in pollution of rivers, streams and creeks, making the water unsafe for aquatic life and leading to a loss of fishing income. Chevron spills oil into soil and farmlands, making them unfit for crops. Women, who are the majority of the informal [economic] sector, are negatively impacted as the oil halts their economic activities and increases their poverty.

Gas flaring has also contributed to a high rate of maternal and child mortality [by causing] reproductive health issues such as infertility, miscarriages, stillbirths, cancers and respiratory problems.

In the Niger Delta, women do not sit idle while such damage is done. We stand up and take action. The landmark achievement in women’s organizing was the Occupation of Chevron Oil Tank Farm in Escravos, Warri South West Local Government by Ugborodo women in July 2002. They succeeded in stopping work for 11 days, until Chevron’s management finally agreed to meet their demands. In so doing, Ugborodo women achieved in 11 days what the men could not achieve in decades. Chevron came down to talk with the women, which opened up the space for chiefs, youth leaders and government representatives to engage in the negotiation process.

How can women in the United States support your work on behalf of women in the Niger Delta?

International solidarity is key to achieving environmental justice and women’s rights in the Niger. The True Cost of Chevron network has been critical. Our greatest ally is the California-based non-profit Justice In Nigeria Now (JINN), which has led campaigns in the U.S. and mobilized other advocacy groups to support the Niger Delta women. I call on our supporters worldwide to join JINN on their website or their Facebook page.

Shell is accused of complicity in torture and killings of Nigerian environmentalists in the Kiobel vs. Shell case, which the U.S. Supreme Court will re-hear in the fall: here.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNS NIGERIAN TORTURE PRACTICES “Nigeria’s police and military routinely torture women, men and children as young as 12 with beatings, shootings, rape, electric shocks and pliers used to pull out teeth and nails, Amnesty International charged Thursday. Most of those detained are denied access to the outside world and even to visits from family or lawyers, said the new report collated from hundreds of testimonies over 10 years.” [AP]